Car Wax Top Coat

[pipemaker]

Has anyone tried a high quality car wax as a top coat on their pens?
The durability of some of the poly and resin waxes are much improved over the old standbys like Turtle wax. Considering all the conditions that a cars finish is subject to, some of these waxes seem ideal as a top coat for our pens.

 

[DCBluesman]

Mike--if you are finishing the plastics (resins, my bad []), the auto polishes should work just fine. The problem with most car waxes lies in the different solvents, polishes (mild abrasives) and adhesion chemicals. Most of these are meant to go over clear coats (another plastic) rather than wood or shellac-based products. The potential for damage to the finish or, worse yet, to the wood is fairly high. Additionally, these compounds are not well suited for the platings of the fittings.

 

[JimGo]

Mike, another thing to consider is that the car finishes aren't really designed for the same environment in which our pens operate. Take, for example, the two "big" finishes last year, Zaino and NXT (NXT, BTW, does an excellent job - haven't tried Zaino yet!); they are specially formulated for long sun exposure, with periodic rain, and only limited friction (e.g., the occasional bug or leaf). By contrast, our pens undergo signficiant friction, both in use, and when being carried around. Most also don't see too much direct sunlight, and are regularly subjected to relatively high humidity environments (close to our bodies) for long periods of time.

That's not to say that they WON'T produce a nice shine; I'm just not sure that it would last very long.

 

[ctEaglesc]

If you do anything pertaining to finishing pens in the shop, some of these top coaats may contain silicones that can raise havoc with other wood finishes.
I try not to use silicones in the shop for anything.

 

[Fred in NC]

I agree with all the above, and especially Eagle. The two main problems with automotive products are the abrasives and the silly cones.

 

[RussFairfield]

Stick with the "Lou Wax" or Renaissance. Lou's smells better. No silicones, no abrasives, no problems, no worries, just good wax.

 

[timdaleiden]

Mike, if you want to experiment, you have been given some pretty good guidelines to follow. Before buying anything, ask some questions about it's contents. If they can't answer the questions, move on.

Some time ago I was looking for information on carnauba wax, and stumbled across a wax that may be well suited for use as a top coat. I posted some links here, and what followed was not pretty.

Anyway, here are the links, they are to the same product, just different distributors and prices.

http://www.topoftheline.com/toltradcarwa.html

http://tinyurl.com/6g8r6

 

[pipemaker]

Thanks to all for the replys. I already had some of the automotive waxes on hand, and I'm glad I asked the question before I ruined several pens.

 

[RussFairfield]

Tim,
Have you tried this wax??

How did it work??

 

[timdaleiden]

Originally posted by RussFairfield
<br />Tim,
Have you tried this wax??

How did it work??

No, I haven't tried it yet Russ. Maybe someday, but for the most part, I don't use top-coats. I have a small can of Renaisance wax that may last for many years.